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Approximately 27,000 Tennesseans who had coverage through the Tennessee Community Health Alliance will be receiving cancelation notices soon. Just yesterday, the CHA announced that it had entered a voluntary state-approved runoff and will no longer offer insurance plans in 2016. This decision comes just weeks away from the next Obamacare Open Enrollment period beginning on November 1, 2015. Policyholders who continue to pay their premiums will keep their coverage through December 31, 2015, but will be forced to choose a new plan from the four remaining carriers participating in the state’s Exchange. “This was not a decision that the Department...

snip..."These little measures that keep slipping through, they cumulatively have a very detrimental effect to safe, legal and timely abortions," said Heather Busby, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. "They've done plenty of damage at this point." Tension over new abortion laws erupted in in June 2013 when Republicans weathered a 13-hour filibuster by Davis, who went on to lose badly to Abbott in the governor's race. New laws required abortion clinics to meet hospital-level operating standards and mandated that doctors who perform abortions obtain hospital admitting privileges. Clinics unable to make costly upgrades closed and women in rural swaths...

Staples Inc , the largest U.S. office supplies retailer, forecast a fall in current-quarter sales as it loses customers to mass market chains and e-retailers, and the company said it would close up to 225 stores in North America by 2015. Staples' shares fell 9 percent before the bell, after the company also posted lower-than-expected fourth-quarter results and forecast current-quarter profit below analysts' estimates. The company operates 1,515 stores in the United States and 331 stores in Canada.

The National Park Service director will blame terrorism for having to shut down most of the National Mall during the government shutdown, saying that was the only way to protect the memorials with limited staff “in a post-9/11 world.” In testimony submitted to Congress, Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said he’s only been able to keep a dozen of the normal 300 employees charged with cleaning and caring for the capital region’s memorials during the shutdown, and without the rest of his staff he cannot guarantee the safety of the property.

The Obama administration's decision to shutter nearly two dozen U.S. diplomatic posts on Sunday has given jihadists something to celebrate — a sense that America still sees them as a serious threat. Despite the plot being thwarted, many supporters of al-Qaida and other terror groups believe the very fact that President Barack Obama was forced to shutter embassies throughout the Middle East and Africa was a victory in itself, according to The New York Times. "God is great! America is in a condition of terror and fear from al-Qaida," wrote one jihadist in an online forum, according to the Times....

DETROIT — President Obama’s auto task force pressed General Motors and Chrysler to close scores of dealerships without adequately considering the jobs that would be lost or having a firm idea of the cost savings that would be achieved, an audit of the process has concluded. The report by Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program of the Treasury Department, said both carmakers needed to shut down some underperforming dealerships. But it questioned whether the cuts should have been made so quickly, particularly during a recession. The report, released on Sunday, estimated that tens...

Bookmark and Share Retail Stores Closing Doors Our Latest Roundup for 2010 Announcements continue to roll in from retailers that have decided to close stores, slow expansion plans or cease operations altogether. From Christopher & Banks to the ESPN Zone, we update our ongoing roundup with the latest news from 2010. Read on to see which retailers are closing (at least some) of their doors. Are any of these your favorites? ESPN ZONE Announced: June 16, 2010 Walt Disney Co. closed its ESPN Zone restaurants in New York; Baltimore; Washington, DC; Las Vegas; and Chicago. With about 150 employees per...

Three power plants on the San Diego County coastline face major changes — from shuttering operations to building new cooling towers — in the wake of a landmark ruling by California’s water-quality officials to protect sea life. The State Water Resources Control Board last week decided to phase out once-through cooling for seaside power plants because the process kills more than 2.6 million fish and 19 billion fish larvae annually, according to the agency. The policy may be contested by energy companies concerned about the cost of compliance, including fitting new infrastructure into existing facilities. Ratepayers statewide will pay the...

School, park closures in O.C. Thick clouds of smoke, raining ash and the firestorm ripping through canyons have forced the closure of schools and parks. Closures are being evaluated daily. The following are scheduled to be closed through at least today.

DETROIT - Her legs crippled by diabetes, Mary Lewis is grateful it's a short distance between her doctor's office at Riverview Hospital and the adjacent apartment tower where she lives. It will become a painful struggle next year when the hospital closes and physicians' offices are forced to move. The hospital last week said it was losing too much money and already stopped accepting inpatients, though the emergency room will remain open for now. Because roughly 90 percent of its 11,000 annual inpatients are covered under the Medicare or Medicaid public assistance programs, Riverview has struggled economically, said Bob Hoban,...

AUGUSTA - Proposed military cutbacks and other potential economic developments in Maine could leave the state reeling for years, according to some economic analysts. Members of the state Revenue Forecasting Committee and the Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission met jointly Thursday morning to weigh the potential economic impact for the state should the Base Realignment and Closure Commission decide to take action against three major installations in Maine. The two panels are composed of more than a dozen of the state's leading economists, who fear such action could deliver a blow that would set the state back 10 years. John Davulis,...

Running out of places to care for patients, London's busiest hospital emergency room shut its doors to all but the most severe injuries from outside the city for the first time in its history last week. Two trauma patients had to be diverted during the shutdown, with one patient sent to a hospital in Toronto and the other to Hamilton. The situation hit amid recent reports some London patients have had to wait as long as three days for a hospital bed to become available. "We were in a crisis situation," said Dr. Gary Joubert, chief of emergency medicine for...

SIERRA VISTA - Ticktock, ticktock goes the BRAC clock. The first major alarm the clock will sound this year happens no later than March 15 when President George W. Bush nominates nine members of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. And it's an alarm local leaders will be listening for, as national leaders nominate people to the commission that will help determine the final list of military bases that will be closed or realigned. Being parochial is not part of the game to be played at the national level to influence who gets on the commission. Randy Groth, associate vice...

Sen. Clinton: Lab has proved its worth, but we can't take anything for granted By STEVE JONES Staff writer Declaring that "no place is safe" in the upcoming round of military base closures and mission consolidations, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed to "do everything that we can do to make sure the merits" of Rome Lab "are seen." New York's junior senator spoke before about 300 community leaders Friday afternoon at the Radisson Hotel in Utica. Clinton put retention of the Air Force Research Laboratory at the top of her list of concerns during a speech to the Mohawk Valley...

SANTA FE -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said he will at least slow the Base Realignment and Closure process if he unseats President Bush in November. "I've been very clear about the BRAC, and I want you guys to publish it loud and clear, because I've said this many times, I swear, but people haven't seemed to have heard it that clearly -- I'm going to stop the next round of BRAC, for the time being, because I intend to put my secretary of defense and my national security team on the mission of really determining where we are...

Visitors to the noon Sunday Mass at Holy Trinity Church in Boston's South End might be forgiven for thinking time travel is possible. Women and girls wear mantillas -- a lightweight lace -- to cover their heads. Only men are allowed in the sanctuary, the area hard by the altar. The priest faces east, just as the worshipers do, so for much of the service only his back is visible as he quietly mouths ancient prayers in Latin. When the time comes for the homily, the priest climbs the steps into a pulpit -- rarely seen in Catholic churches today...

By Patrick J. Dickson, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Friday, June 13, 2003 Joe Gromelski / S&S Bernhard Deubig of Kaiserslautern speaks to the media as his fellow German mayors listen Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington. Joe Gromelski / S&S Mayor Richard Schlicht of Vilseck and County Commissioner Rolf Künne of Kaiserslautern listen to the news conference. Joe Gromelski / S&S Mayors Anton Jung of Weilerbach, left, and Klaus Grumer of Landstuhl at the news conference. Joe Gromelski / S&S Left to right, Mayors Helmut Waechter of Grafenwohr, Volkmar Pees of Baumholder and Bernhard Deubig of Kaiserslautern. WASHINGTON...

<p>NEW YORK  — As the war against Iraq began to unfold Thursday, many cancellations and closures took place across the United States.</p> <p>Authorities fanned out to power plants, bridges, state capitols and other facilities to shield them against possible retaliatory strikes, all part of Operation Liberty Shield, the plan to fortify the nation against terror.</p>